Some of our long term readers may remember that some years ago I made a birthday quilt for our Irish Baby when she turned 21. A labour of love with fabric donated from all her friends and family.
Well this spring my Bernard turned 21, so it was time for her to have a memory quilt of her own. Despite not having done a single stitch of quilting since 2012, I thought I'd be more ambitious with the design........obviously! Seriously, why don't people stop me when I come up with these ideas!
Luckily I have a very wonderful Badger who kept me supplied with tea and biscuits and helped me with … [Read more...]

As I said in my last post, it's been very quiet around here for a while, there has been a lot of change at Keynko HQ and lots of pastures new! So lets have a bit of a catch up an see how everyone is!
Splosh is now officially a primary school teacher! He has spent the last year slaving away at his PGCE (or PDGE as it is north of the border). It hasn't been an easy time, the course is very intense, but as always my boy has taken it in his stride and come out stronger for it! We are of course hugely proud of him and I hope the children of Scotland realise how lucky they are to have him as … [Read more...]

Blimey, I haven't been here for nearly 6 months!
I have to admit there have been times when I wondered if I would ever come back.
My blog mojo disappeared completely. I had nothing to say and no reasonable way to tell anyone why.
I have popped in a few times to blow the cobwebs off and make sure it was all as I left it and in fits of nostalgia I have read through old posts. But today I think maybe I'm ready to open the book back up and pick up my metaphorical pen.
There are many many reasons for my radio silence, some of which I'll share, some of which I will keep to myself.
But … [Read more...]

Our first summer with a Bongo! And where else do you take your camper van on it's first trip? Well Scotland of course!
A visit to Splosh and Irish baby, rolling hills, mountain views and waving fields of wheat! What a wonderful few days! We really got to see the joys of Aberdeenshire and found the most wonderful campsite at Ythan Valley Our hosts supplied beautiful views and fresh homemade bread for breakfast, with their well kept, clean facilities and friendly welcome it is a new favourite place for the collective to visit!
Who needs to travel overseas when … [Read more...]

I don't get to join in with these link ups very often so I have to make the most of it when I can!
With my babies living opposite ends of the country getting everyone to the same place at the same time takes organising 4 calendars, trains from Scotland, route planning from the West Midlands and me stocking up on enough tea and biscuits to sink a battle ship! But last weekend we managed it and in honour of G'dad T's 70th birthday we all converged on Keynko HQ and a splendid time was had by all!
So here they are, my beautiful babies!
What can I say, that I haven't said before? It … [Read more...]

Autumn mornings make me sad!
I drive to work with the crisp morning sun, past the field that is always swathed in mist and up the hill past the woods with leaves all golden and red......and I feel sad!
I sat in the traffic queue this morning and pondered just why this is.......
I'm a huge fan of winter and the colder weather so it can't be the end of summer making me glum.
I love Christmas and autumn only means it's getting closer.
So why does all this autumn beauty make me sad?
Well watching all the kids tramping their way to school reminds me that I can't take … [Read more...]

What a truly wonderful summer holiday this year! After several weeks of negotiating annual leave and holiday time for 6 people we finally all managed to get the same week off
Time to relax, chill out and generally make each other laugh! Thank you family for being so wonderful - can we do it again next year? And of course a huge thank you to J & T for the wonderful house to stay in!
The Lake District holiday from Mary Key on Vimeo. … [Read more...]

I know it's late in the month to join in the link up with Lucy at Dear Beautiful, but we've been waiting for our family holiday to catch a snap of my two lovelies in the same place!
University, distance and work commitments have kept them apart since Christmas and so we've had no opportunity to join in since then.
It turns out the Lake District is about the half way point between us all and so we all met up for a week, to have some serious family time. It always makes me smile that no matter how long they have been apart these two always slip back into their sibling relationship as … [Read more...]

My Facebook timeline is full of people counting down the days until the holidays start. Summer's nearly here!
Parents filled with dread at the thought entertaining their little darlings for 6 weeks - the school staff holding their breath until they can finally relax!
In our house? well it's rather an odd summer for Badger and I. We are stumbling towards the last day of term, bleary eyed, longing for next week, when we can turn the alarm clocks off and put our feet up!
But it's also tinged with a little sadness this year, this is our first summer with a properly … [Read more...]

The "adults" in the Keynko collective have been planning! It's not as dangerous as it sound really - we're not going to take over the world...well this week anyway!
But we have been plotting our holiday options and have decided to relive the dream we discussed all those hundreds of years ago before we had our babies - to have a camper-van and just hit the road!
As we both work in education we have a whole summer holidays to fill (not to mention the half terms and Easter)
So we have made the decision to save a little cash, sell the car and buy ourselves a little van to convert to a … [Read more...]